


Getting Him Home

by Ellie603



Series: Home [2]
Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-03-13 12:53:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3382250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie603/pseuds/Ellie603
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben has to leave Pawnee and go back on the road for the state government, but Leslie's not letting him out of her life that easily.</p><p>Leslie's perspective on "Coming Home"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> One of my lovely "Coming Home" reviewers suggested I do a companion piece from Leslie's perspective, so this is just going to be a collection about 6 or 7 (probably) short little scenes from parts that fic from Leslie's perspective instead of Ben's. I hope you guys like it!

Leslie left the Parks Department in search of Ben. Andy and April had just handed out invitations to their dinner party that night, and Leslie felt that she needed to make sure that Ben was coming.

This was more out of habit than anything. A month or two ago, Leslie might have had to actually force Ben to go socialize with everyone outside of work, but now he had become a fixture of their department, one of the gang, and Leslie knew he would definitely show up. Still, it gave her an excuse to go see him, and that was her real motive. Over the past half a year, spending time with Ben had more and more become one of her favorite parts of the day, and she would have bet anything that Ben felt the same way.

She spotted him walking down one of the main hallways. “Hey!”

“Oh, hey,” Ben replied, his voice sounding slightly off. Leslie ignored it for a second, focusing on the invitation in Ben’s hands.

“You going tonight?” she asked casually, gesturing to the piece of paper.

“Yeah,” Ben replied, looking down at the invitation, “apparently they want me to bring _Avatar_ and 50 pairs of 3D glasses and a 3D capable television.” He offered Leslie one of his small Ben Wyatt smiles. 

“Mmmm,” Leslie replied, entertained.

Ben’s smile grew wider, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Well, I will see you there,” Leslie said, as the pair of them started walking down the hallway side-by-side, “with all of those things.”

“I was actually coming to see you,” Ben said, his voice lacking any of its previous humor, “I have to tell you something.”

“Oh yeah?” Leslie was suddenly nervous.

He took a deep breath. “I should have told you this when I found out a few days ago, but I didn’t know how, but I still want you to know before I tell anyone else.” He paused for a moment. “My boss in Indianapolis wants me back on the road next week. Today’s my last day in Pawnee. I leave tomorrow morning.”

Leslie’s smile immediately slid off her face as she stared at him. She had known that Ben leaving was inevitable - he was technically a state auditor after all - but she had managed to put that idea out of her head for at least a couple months now. Ben had become a trusted ally, an amazing coworker, a friend, and there was definitely a not-so-little part of her that had a not-so-little crush on him. She had never gotten along with someone as well as she had gotten along with Ben, even their early days of fighting had been fun and exciting. He was always willing to listen to her ideas, and she could have never pulled the Harvest Festival off without him. Ben meant so much to her… but he was leaving…

Leslie felt tears begin to well up in her eyes. “Oh,” she said quietly.

She saw concern begin to appear on Ben’s face, but Leslie didn’t want to make this harder on him than it probably already was. Without another word, she raced off. If Ben Wyatt was leaving Pawnee, then darn it if she wasn’t going to give him something to remember the town by.

She started digging through boxes and files in her office, trying her best to avoid being seen by Ben who had come to the department presumably to tell them the news. 

Everyone seemed to be very sympathetic about Ben’s departure, and Leslie was pleased. It was nice to know that all her friends had all gotten as attached to the nerdy state auditor as she had. Well maybe not _quite_ as attached as she had, but still: they cared.

Leslie sped home to pick up supplies at lunchtime and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the office working on her Ben in Pawnee scrapbook. For months now she had been saving pictures and mementos of Ben’s time in the town in a box in one of her drawers. She wasn’t totally sure why her collection had started, but from the moment she found out Ben had gone to Eagleton to get Freddy Spaghetti, Leslie had known somehow that this state auditor was special, and she had subconsciously added him to the list of people that she cared about enough to warrant an eventual scrapbook. When pictures had come out from the concert, she had gotten some printed and put them away just in case, and she had done the same thing with screengrabs from Ben on Perd Hapley and Joan Callamezzo once she had gotten her hands on copies of the shows. Since the Harvest Festival, Leslie had kept a secret hope that she’d get to make this scrapbook as a present for Ben for when they started dating, because dating Ben was something she definitely wanted, but now it would just have to suffice as a going away present.

Leslie tried to distract herself from the sadness of Ben leaving by finding the transcript from the Crazy Ira and The Douche show where Ben had had his first meltdown and tracking down her old ID badge from the government shutdown over the summer, but that didn’t work for long.

The last few pages of the scrapbook were going to be dedicated to the Harvest Festival, and Leslie worked on them last in the two hours she had at her house between work and the party. The brochures, site maps, and event schedules were easy, but everything derailed when she started looking through pictures. Group ones of the staff where Leslie and Ben were standing beside each other, grinning at the success of the event, candids of Leslie, Ben and others surveying the grounds, and, last, one of Leslie and Ben standing at the edge of Li’l Sebastain’s pen smiling widely at each other, each wearing “I Met Li’l Sebastian at the Pawnee Harvest Festival” t-shirts. It had taken some time, but Ben finally got it.

Leslie focused on their faces, the smiles they were giving each other. They looked almost like a couple. A tear fell onto the picture, and Leslie quickly wiped it off and rubbed her eyes. There was no point in crying over what could have been. This was Ben’s last night in Pawnee, and she refused to let herself ruin things for him by crying. 

So Leslie arrived promptly to the party and set her bag containing the scrapbook in a back room as she wondered how she would be able to get through the evening without getting too broken up over Ben. But Leslie found her solution in April and Andy’s secret wedding as she immediately launched into trying to keep her friends from throwing away their lives, looking to shore up support from anyone, only to find that she had no allies who were willing to help.

So Leslie finally let them go. April and Andy could have just made the biggest mistake of their lives, but, like Ron said, it was up to them to figure this out for themselves. 

With the ceremony over, Leslie knew it was time to talk to Ben.

“Hey, come with me for a sec,” Leslie said evenly, trying not hold it together. 

Ben followed her into the other room, and Leslie motioned for him to sit down on the sofa.

She pulled out the scrapbook and handed it to him hesitantly. It wasn’t quite up to her usual standards since she had only had that day to work on it, but she hoped he liked it.

Ben was quiet as he flipped through the pages slowly, reaching out to touch a photo or flyer here or there. He finally paused as he got to the picture of he and Leslie at the Harvest Festival. 

“I didn’t have time to make it that nice,” she said nervously, “but I had to do something.”

Ben finally looked up, shaking his head, his eyes wide in admiration. “This is the greatest present I’ve ever gotten,” he said in a way that told Leslie that he really meant that. He set down the scrapbook stood up to wrap his arms around Leslie as she did the same to him.

 _Don’t cry, Leslie,_ she told herself, _don’t you dare cry._

As they broke apart, Ben looked down at her. “I’m really going to miss Pawnee.”

Leslie could tell that there was a little more meaning behind “Pawnee” than just the town. “Pawnee’s really going to miss you,” she replied with a half smile.

Ben said his goodbyes to the rest of their friends, and finally he and Leslie were left alone by the door.

Leslie knew it was only a matter of time before she broke her “no crying” rule. “You better come back and visit,” she said, emotion evident in her voice.

Ben had looked back into her eyes seriously. “I will. I promise.” Again, his words carried a great weight.

They shared one last hug and one final finger pistol handshake. Leslie laughed even as the first tear rolled down her cheek.

Leslie took in a shaky breath as Ben disappeared into the darkness. She had finally found a guy who cared about her, who appreciated her enthusiasm and her determination, who read political biographies and watched the History Channel in his free time, but he was gone. She had only known him for six months, but it felt like longer. He was a really great person and a really great friend.

Leslie wiped the tears from her eyes and hardened her resolve. Ben Wyatt might have been leaving Pawnee, but Leslie couldn’t bear to let him leave her life. She would talk to him in a day or two and find out the details of his next assignment, and then they’d stay in touch and maybe he’d come back to visit… and maybe, eventually, one of those visits would turn into him coming back for good. Leslie tried not to get too ahead of herself, but it was still an encouraging thought.

“Leslie!” she heard Andy’s excited voice behind her. “Get back here! You’ve got to come dance!”

She sighed. Time to head back to the party, not that she really felt like dancing.


	2. Emails and Phone Calls

As planned, Leslie had texted Ben and found out that his next assignment was in Richmond, about three hours from Pawnee and that he started the following Monday.

When Monday came, Leslie found herself completely unable to concentrate, her thoughts drifting to Ben and Richmond alternating between wanting him to make friends and have a good time and hoping Ben didn’t end up liking the new town as much as Pawnee. She felt selfish thinking it, but she couldn’t help but feel that Ben really was a Pawneean at heart and that he really belonged back with her.

Chris seemed as upset by Ben’s departure as she was, but he was using exercise to escape his sadness; Leslie didn’t really have anything.

As the afternoon dragged on, she had the idea to make a quick video for the absent state auditor, just like Andy and April had made for the department a few days before. Aside from Tom’s off-topic Snakehole story and Jerry tripping in the middle of the video, it turned out pretty well. Leslie hadn’t cried or gotten too emotional, so she counted it as a success. 

She uploaded it and typed up an email and was able to send it off just a bit after five.

Leslie tried not to check her email every few minutes after she sent it, hoping that Ben would reply quickly. 

It was almost seven before a ping sounded at from her computer at home telling her that she had a message. It was Ben, of course. He said he didn’t have any problems with Richmond, but it wasn’t Pawnee. He missed the town and all of them, and he seemed really annoyed by the Richmond parks deputy director. Leslie couldn’t help but grin triumphantly as she read that he definitely preferred her to this new deputy director.

Leslie fought the urge to email him back immediately, deciding that it would be better to write him back after work the next day when she would have some new stuff to tell him after she asked for more information about the Richmond parks department and the rest of the town.

For weeks Leslie and Ben emailed each other back and forth. Leslie found out all about this deputy director, some lady named Bridgette Evans who Leslie had immediately found on facebook and discovered, much to her annoyance, to be very pretty. Leslie couldn’t help but wonder if Ben and Bridgette would end up being friends… or something. After all, Leslie was certain that Ben had complained about her when they had first met, and look what had happened to them.

But things had gone on as usual in Pawnee, Leslie working with a little less enthusiasm than she normally would have been, missing her partner of the previous six months.

Ann seemed to notice. She asked about Ben casually every so often and would stare expectantly as Leslie updated her on his life in Richmond and occasionally let out a “I really miss him.” Ann never asked if Leslie had feelings for him, and Leslie was glad that she didn’t. She already knew that it could never work with her and Ben, at least as things were currently, and she really didn’t need anyone else to point that out to her. 

A couple weeks after Ben had left, Chris announced a new city hall health initiative, and Leslie, as per usual, had a million ideas. Ann, being the beautiful, brilliant sunflower that she was, came over with a cholesterol testing kit and a guy she was apparently dating. 

As Leslie remarked on the presence of the man, Ann replied that she was having a lot of fun dating different guys and then countered with her own question. “Anyone you want to date, Leslie?”

Leslie’s thoughts turned instantly to Ben, but she knew that wasn’t a road she should go down, so she just shrugged. “Not really.” 

“Maybe you need to cast a wider net. Have you thought about Internet dating?” Ann asked, grinning. 

“Really?” Leslie replied skeptically. “I don’t think that’s for me.”

Ann finally convinced her, offering to stop by at lunch to help set up her profile. Leslie’s thoughts were still three hours away with her favorite state auditor, but maybe there was someone else out there like Ann had said. 

When Ann returned a few hours later, she sat down at Leslie’s computer and began asking her questions and putting together her profile on hoosiermate.com. Leslie tried to explain to Ann the importance of the wildflower mural on the second floor, but her best friend didn’t seem to get it. Leslie couldn’t help but wonder what Ben thought about the mural. Leslie could tell a lot about whether or not she was compatible with a person based on whether or not they liked that mural.

Ann clicked open Leslie’s first match and found, to the surprise of both women, that it was Tom. The rest of the day passed by in a weird blur of “what the hell is happening?” that didn’t end until Leslie finally kissed Tom to shut him up and Chris reprimanded her in his office.

She finally let herself relax as she grabbed one of Ron’s normal burgers from the cook-off out in the courtyard. It was just after five, and Leslie really just wanted to complain to someone about everything that had happened that day. Ann was with her, but Donna had come over to ask Ann how dating was going and Tom had followed with questions of his own, so Leslie had just wanted to get away. She’d had enough Tom Haverford for one day. 

So Leslie quickly gestured to Ann that she was going inside and then left. Leslie knew that there was one person she actually did want to talk to: Ben. He was the one who had been going through her mind all day, and she knew he’d have a great reaction to Leslie being matchup up with Tom online. _Is it okay to call him about something like this?_ Leslie thought, unsure. Leslie hadn’t actually spoken to Ben on the phone since he’d left, but they emailed almost everyday about all sorts of stuff, so she figured this would be fine. 

Before she lost her nerve, Leslie made her way up to the second floor and pulled out her phone. It started ringing as she sat down on the bench in front of the mural.

Ben answered almost immediately. “Hello?”

“Hey, Ben! It’s Leslie Knope from the Pawnee Parks Department,” she replied, slightly flustered and just really happy to hear his voice.

She heard Ben laugh on the other end of the call. “Yeah, Leslie. I know. What’s up? It’s been a while. Or it’s been a while since we talked on the phone. I mean, I just emailed you yesterday, so it hasn’t really been a while since I talked to you.” He was clearly rambling, but it just made Leslie laugh. She really _really_ missed him.

“I just wanted to tell you about what happened to me at work today, and I wanted to hear your reaction. You aren’t busy are you?” She realized that Ben probably had a lot of important stuff to get done and that he might even be getting dinner or something with friends.

“Oh, not at all,” Ben brushed off her concerns. “I’m still at the office working on some stuff, but that’s not even a little bit important. What happened?”

Leslie launched into an account of her day followed by a long conversation on her ideas for the health initiative and Ben’s plans for fixing the Richmond budget. Leslie knew that this was easily the happiest she had been all day, maybe even all week. Ben understood her like no one else did, except maybe Ann. He cared about her ideas and her government, and he laughed at all her stupid jokes that she had always assumed no one but her found funny. And he even liked the wildflower mural! Leslie knew she was done with online dating; she preferred to meet people in person. Or, more accurately, she preferred to meet Ben in person. She wished he was there to share her favorite bench with her.

Almost an hour had passed before Leslie heard footsteps and turned to see Ann who was clearly looking for her.

“Hey, you want to head out?” Ann asked, her eyes narrowed silently asking Leslie who she was talking to.

“Oh, yeah, um, give me a sec,” Leslie replied to Ann before directing her focus back to Ben. “I guess I should let you go. It was really great to actually hear your voice.”

She could almost hear Ben’s goofy grin. “Yeah, same here. We’ll talk soon, right?” 

“Absolutely,” Leslie replied enthusiastically. “Have a good night, Ben.” 

“You too, Leslie.”

As the call ended, Leslie looked up at Ann sheepishly. Her friend’s expression quite clearly said “really?” But Leslie just shrugged in reply, not wanting to explain herself.

As she and Ann walked down to their cars chatting lightly about what movie to watch at Ann’s house that night, there was a small, secret smile on Leslie face. There was nothing like talking to Ben to make her feel a thousand times better. Now he just needed to come back to Pawnee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! You guys are the best!


	3. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not getting around to this sooner. Life's been a little crazy. 
> 
> But thanks so much to everyone who's been reading this. You guys are amazing!

Things in the Parks Department went on as usual for Leslie. Her emails to Ben continued steadily, now accompanied by sporadic phone calls in response to weird situations that had been encountered by one of them or the other. First it had been her with Tom and online dating, then Ben had been asked out by the woman he disliked the most in all of the Richmond government, Bridgette Evans, and finally, the week before, Leslie had ended up at April and Andy’s with a stolen painting of her as a centaur goddess.

Calling Ben had been her first instinct as she tried to hide the offending piece of artwork, and it had been a good one. With Ben’s concern and immediate statement of belief that she would find a solution, she had had the idea to get Jerry to paint an exact replica of the painting, only with her centaur body traded out for Tom’s. It had tricked Marcia Langman, and Leslie had gotten to keep the painting of Diaphena. When she shared the story with Ben later that day, he had emailed her back immediately with genuine congratulations and an assurance that he had always had complete faith in her. Leslie had spent the rest of the day smiling.

She found it hard to remember how she had gone from day to day before she’d had Ben. Her friends in Pawnee were beyond amazing – Ann was the greatest human ever invented, there was no one in the world she trusted more than Ron, and April and Andy were some sort of cross between great friends and her small children. But, with Ben, Leslie could talk about work and he actually cared; he didn’t just pretend like Leslie knew Ann sometimes did. Of course the fact that Ann pretended to be interested just made Leslie love her more, but it was still nice to have a friend who was actually as invested in government work as she was. Ben was a great sounding board for ideas, and he didn’t hesitate to playfully make fun of her for stuff she told him about. Leslie, of course, did the same to him. Their relationship was so natural; it just made sense. And Leslie missed him like crazy.

She knew his time in Richmond was drawing to a close in the next week or so, but he hadn’t told her about his plans for afterward, and Leslie was fairly certain he didn’t know himself. She wanted desperately to tell him to come back and visit at the very least, but she didn’t say anything. This was up to Ben to figure out. If she got him back to Pawnee, even for a couple days, she would start really trying to get him to stay, but, at this point, there was still a tiny seed of doubt in Leslie’s mind that maybe Ben didn’t miss her and Pawnee as much as she missed him.

So Leslie didn’t say anything pushy or even mention Pawnee besides her usual Parks stories in the email she sent Ben after work on the Wednesday of Ben’s fifth week in Richmond. 

The next morning began normally for Leslie. Ben hadn’t emailed her back yet, which made Leslie a little sad, but she knew he’d get to it later. He was busy tying up loose ends in Richmond; Leslie could wait. She spent over an hour in her office dealing with forms and paperwork while simultaneously preparing for a presentation she had to give the rest of the department on this past winter’s Harvey James Park raccoon infestation. She was planning a full day of parks maintenance with April and Tom for the next day, and attempting to drive off some of the last remaining raccoons was already on the schedule.

Everyone was seated in the conference room by 10:25, and Leslie passed out binders and began with an impassioned speech on Harvey James Park and the horrors of the Pawnee raccoon.

Five slides into the presentation, exclamations from Tom and Donna interrupted her.

“What!” Donna was looking through the glass, evidently surprised.

“Benihana!” Tom said, excitedly, staring the same direction as Donna.

Leslie directed her gaze out through the door too, and her mouth fell open even as a smile spread across her face. “Oh my God. Ben…” she breathed, unable to say more than that as she took in the shape of the state auditor. It was Ben. It was _really_ Ben. He was here. In Pawnee. With her. “What?” 

Ben grinned widely as he stepped fully into the conference room. “I have three days off before my next assignment, so I figured I’d spend them back here with you guys,” he explained, his eyes staying locked on Leslie’s. He seemed to want to make it clear to Leslie that he was here for her more than anyone else.

“Oh my God,” she repeated quietly, not sure if she could believe that he was really standing right there in front of her… Right there in front of her… Ben Wyatt was standing in front of her for the first time in almost five weeks, and she wasn’t hugging him? Leslie immediately launched herself onto her friend and wrapped her arms around him. “It’s so amazing to see you,” she spoke softly into his shoulder.

“It’s great to see you too,” came the reply into her hair.

Leslie hadn’t felt this at peace in weeks, ever since this amazing man had stepped out of Andy and April’s house over a month before. She felt like she could stay wrapped up in Ben Wyatt’s arms forever. 

A well-placed cough from Donna broke up their embrace, but Leslie couldn’t have stopped smiling if she wanted to. There was so much she needed to talk to Ben about, so much she needed to ask him, the most important thing being “can you please stay in Pawnee because I miss you like crazy,” but she let Ben greet the rest of the department before she said anything else.

Everyone was so excited to see Ben, and Leslie’s heart warmed at the sight of all the hugs and handshakes. He had made an impact on their lives just as they, Leslie knew, had made an impact on his.

After a not-so-polite exchange with April, Ben’s eyes drifted back to Leslie. 

Her smile grew wider. All she wanted was to spend some time alone with him. There was so much to talk about. “You want to catch up after I finish this?” She motioned to the powerpoint that was still projected on the screen. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Ben replied, his voice sounding almost breathless. 

Leslie stomach flip-flopped as she realized that Ben had definitely missed her just as much as she had missed him.

She found it almost impossible to focus on her presentation as Ben sat back in a chair next to the door. She managed to get though all her slides and her whole binder, but the smile on her face was much wider than appropriate for a discussion of raccoon attacks, and every time she locked eyes with Ben her words faltered slightly. He was looking at her as though she was the only thing in the world, and Leslie began to very seriously consider kicking the rest department out of the conference room so she could kiss his stupid, adorable face. 

As the presentation ended and her coworkers turned to Ben, asking him about he five weeks he’d been away, Leslie actually _had_ to resort to kicking her department out of the conference room, though she still restrained herself from kissing him. 

Ben had been happy to talk to their friends, but he seemed relieved to be left alone with Leslie.

She wanted to go somewhere private to talk, but she wasn’t sure what the best option was. She glanced at the clock and saw it was almost eleven. “It’s a little early for lunch, but are you hungry?” 

Ben thought for half a second before he grinned at her. “Honestly, I’m starving.” 

“Anywhere you want to go in particular?” Leslie asked politely, though she tried to make her pro-JJ’s subtext very clear.

Ben laughed, clearly understanding. “I would _love_ to go to JJ’s.”

“Yay!” she cheered happily. “Let me get my jacket.” As she hurried into her office, Leslie realized with a start that this was definitely the happiest she had been since Ben had left five weeks before. She had missed him so much. 

When she reemerged with her coat and purse, she grabbed Ben’s arm and pulled him out of the department so they could get their chance to talk as soon as possible. 

Ben quickly stopped her and informed her that he hadn’t seen Chris yet and that he didn’t want to see him until after they went to JJ’s, so they had to be sneaky. Ben teased her when she claimed she could be sneaky, and as Leslie laughed, she felt like a weight that had been pressing down on her for weeks had been lifted.

After a quick stop to see Andy, who humorously pulled Ben into a bear hug that lifted the smaller man off the ground, they made it out to the parking lot.

As Ben offered his car, Leslie suddenly remembered her plans for Ann to come meet her for lunch. She quickly excused herself, pulled out her phone, and moved a little bit away from Ben.

“Hello?” the beautiful nurse said when she picked up.

“Ann, hey it’s Leslie. I can’t do lunch today.”

“Oh no, is there some parks emergency?” Ann asked, some concern in her voice.

“No, nothing like that,” Leslie replied. “Actually, Ben came back!” 

“Really?” Ann sounded excited. “For good?” 

“No, just to visit for a few days before he goes to his next town,” Leslie answered, a hint of sadness in her voice as her smile dropped slightly. 

“Are you going to try to get him to _actually_ come back?” Ann asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, of course I’ll ask,” Leslie said with the smallest of sighs, “but I don’t think it’s going to change anything.” 

“Well, regardless,” Ann’s voice grew reassuring, “Ben’s back, and you’re going to hang out with him, and it’ll be awesome.”

Leslie had to smile at her best friend’s words. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m just really happy he’s here.”

“I bet you are,” Ann said, her knowing smile evident through the phone. “Have a great time at lunch, and tell him I say hi and welcome back.”

“Okay, I will. We’ll talk later. Bye Ann!” Leslie replied, her level of excitement returning to where it had been when Ben first arrived.

Leslie learned two important things on the drive to JJ’s: first, that Ben’s next assignment was in Marion, which was terrible since it was just as far away from Pawnee as Richmond had been, and second, that it was definitely possible that Ben wanted to kiss her just as much as she wanted to kiss him, if Ben’s assurance that he “really _really_ missed Pawnee,” accompanied by a look that was only broken when Ben had to turn his attention to the road, was any indication. Leslie set aside the first point and focused on the second for a moment. If Ben was going to leave in three days, kissing him would be a bad plan. She definitely couldn’t do it, no matter how cute his mouth was. But if she could convince him not to leave… and that was where the first point came in.

Leslie let them ease into the discussion as she and Ben set down, ordered, and began eating as soon as their food arrived. She asked Ben about his last days in Richmond, and he asked her all about Pawnee and the Parks Department.

As Ben’s laughter at an impression Leslie had done of Chris died down, he adopted an almost wistful expression. “I miss this so much,” he said, his words full of longing. “All the weird Pawnee stuff, Chris, the whole Parks Department.” 

Leslie couldn’t stay quiet any more. “Then why don’t you stay?”

Ben took a moment before answering. “I already said I’d go to Marion, and it’s not like I actually have a job or even a place to live here. I mean I’d love to stay, you know I’d love to stay, but I can’t, Leslie. I’m sorry.” Ben looked at her pleadingly, his eyes begging Leslie’s forgiveness.

Leslie had expected that answer, but she wouldn’t deny that it still hurt to hear the words. She stared down into her lap getting her thoughts together. Ben was here for three days. That was three days to change his mind. She had some planning to do. 

She let out a breath. “Well, if you’re only here until Sunday morning then we’re doing as much stuff together as we can until then, okay?”

“That sounds perfect,” Ben replied, the smile on his face at Leslie’s words bringing a smile back to Leslie’s lips.

Leslie, naturally, insisted on paying, though Ben only allowed her to by agreeing to pay the next time they went, Leslie’s heart leaping a little at Ben’s guarantee of a “next time”, and by the time they were back in Ben’s car, Leslie had launched into full planning mode, pulling a pad of paper and a pen out of her purse.

She asked him what he wanted to do in while he was in Pawnee, but his response of “all I really wanted to do was see you,” didn’t necessarily help with her plan (or with her no-kissing-Ben-since-he’s-officially-leaving-in-three-days rule). After a few moments he added that he wanted to see Chris and maybe get dinner with everyone that night if they were all up for it. Leslie quickly began blocking in activities and scheduling the rest of Ben’s time in Pawnee.

As they pulled back into city hall parking lot, she took off without waiting for him, calling back to tell him to find her after he went to see Chris.

Leslie spent the next two hours alternately working on actual Parks Department stuff, filling in the itinerary she was going to present to Ben, and writing her own separate plan for how to keep Ben in Pawnee. The most important part of it came on Saturday afternoon. She and Ben were getting breakfast at JJ’s, and then she officially left the schedule open for the rest of the day. But if she knew Ben Wyatt, which she did, he would say that he didn’t really care what they did, which was why Leslie’s plan had a separate, secret itinerary which included a trip to the zoo, bowling, a tour at the Snow Globe Museum, a visit to the site of the Battle of Indian Hill where they had held the Harvest Festival, a stop at the wildflower mural, and finally a surprise going away/welcome home party at Ann’s house. If all that great stuff, plus dinner with their friends tonight and park maintenance and drinks at the Snakehole tomorrow, didn’t make Ben want to stay in Pawnee, then she didn’t know what would.

She quickly fired off emails to the rest of the department, plus Chris and Ann, about the events that required all of their attendance over the next three days and then finished by writing “BEN’S BEST THREE DAYS EVER: A PAWNEE EXTRAVAGANZA” across the top of the itinerary she was giving to Ben and “OPERATION KEEP BEN IN PAWNEE” across the top of her secret plan.

Leslie walked into the center area of the office a little before three. “Are you all up for dinner tonight?” she asked looking around from Donna and Tom to Jerry to April and Andy who was sitting with April at her desk.

Everyone nodded in assent, only April grumbling about how she didn't want to see Ben’s stupid face.

Leslie smiled, knowing that Tom and Donna in particular would normally have some kind of plans for after work, even on a Thursday night, but clearly they found Ben important enough to not even complain about. 

“Ron?” Leslie called through the doorway of her boss’s office. “Are you coming tonight?” 

“We are going to a restaurant where they serve steak, so yes I will be attending,” Ron replied, his mustache twitching slightly at the prospect of a steak dinner. 

Leslie had chosen the particular restaurant for this exact reason.

No sooner had she moved away from Ron’s office that Ben returned to the department.

Leslie rushed at him, waving her itinerary as she explained the plan for the next three days without taking a breath.

When Ben didn’t respond immediately, Leslie grew slightly nervous. “Is all that okay?” she asked, unsure. She knew Ben was happy to see her, but maybe she had over-estimated his excitement. 

Ben looked up from the itinerary at her, a smile growing on his face. “It’s all great, Leslie. You know I’m just glad to see you guys.”

Leslie immediately grinned, relieved.

Ben left the department to go check into the Super Suites, and Leslie started to head back to her office when Donna’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“So, Leslie. You and Ben.” 

Leslie froze and turned to the other woman. “What about me and Ben?” Leslie replied too quickly.

“You _like_ him,” Donna clarified, her eyebrows raised. 

“Leslie likes _Ben_?” Andy’s eyes grew wide and his mouth opened in a wide smile as he stared at Leslie.

“What! No!” Leslie denied automatically, but she knew that her words weren’t convincing. She never had been very good at lying. 

“Neither one of you has stopped smiling since he got here!” Donna countered. 

“So?” Leslie argued defensively. “We’re just two friends who haven’t seen each other in a while that are happy to be back together.” Leslie quickly realized what she had said and amended her statement. “I mean not together, but with each other, like in the same place, you know what I mean!” she ended, her voice rising and her words jumbling together as she grew flustered under Donna’s intense gaze. Even April was raising her eyebrows at her.

“You emailed him _every day_ when he was gone!” Tom said from his position beside Donna. “That means something!”

“Not _every_ day,” Leslie mumbled under her breath, knowing there wasn’t really a way she could win this one.

“Whatever, girl,” Donna said with finality, her attention moving away from Leslie and back to her computer. “He likes you, and you like him. I know these things. But you just have to deal with this yourself.”

As Donna finished speaking, Leslie hurried back into her office and sank into her chair, staring straight ahead. Apparently her feelings for Ben were really obvious. _I wonder if Ben knows_ , Leslie thought to herself, not sure exactly what that would mean for her. But then some of Donna’s words echoed back to her. She had said that Ben liked Leslie and Leslie liked Ben. And that whole thing about both of them smiling ever since he’d gotten here was true too. It was the most assurance from anyone else that Leslie had ever gotten that Ben actually did feel the same way about her that she felt about him.

Leslie’s lips curved into a small smile. Hopefully this would be good for her “keep Ben in Pawnee” plan. But until she could put it in motion, it just made her pledge not to even think about kissing Ben until she got him to actually stay in Pawnee all the more difficult.


	4. Harsh Words and Hard Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last part of this past semester was the most stressful and exhausting few weeks I've ever had to deal with, so working on this wasn't even an option until last weekend. But everything's really slowed down now, and it looks like it's going to stay that way for the foreseeable future, so I'll definitely get to finish this in the next few weeks. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!!!

Ben’s Going Away/Goodbye Again party had just begun at Ann’s house, and Leslie was definitely feeling optimistic about her plan. She and Ben had had the greatest afternoon together, and now he was talking to Chris on the other side of the room as Leslie went to grab food for herself, plus a calzone for her favorite state auditor.

“It’s been really great having you back here, Ben,” Leslie heard Chris say from across Ann’s living room, and she smiled to herself. She knew Chris was very much on Team Keep Ben in Pawnee.

“It’s _literally_ going to be the worst thing ever all over again having you leave tomorrow,” Chris continued. “Actually, I think it might even be worse this time since you’re only not staying because you turned down my offer to be Assistant City Manager here.” 

Leslie froze and her smile slipped off her face as she processed what Chris had just said. Chris had offered Ben a job to be city manager? And Ben had _turned it down_? As she heard Ben behind her trying to get Chris to be quiet, she whirled around to face the man she had thought was one of her best friends in the world.

“You turned down his WHAT?” she yelled, confused and angry as she tried to understand what had happened. 

Ben stared back at her wordlessly.

No one moved.

“What did you turn down, Ben?” Leslie asked again, her eyes flashing. “What did Chris just say?”

Ben took a deep breath. “Chris offered me a job as Assistant City Manager yesterday, and I didn’t take it.”

Leslie felt as though her heart had just been ripped in half. Ben had acted so happy to be back. He had seemed so upset that he couldn’t stay. He had made her think that he cared about her, and Leslie would have been prepared to bet that he wanted to be with her as badly as she wanted to be with him. But Ben turning down a job Pawnee just made no sense. If he really cared about her and about Pawnee, then why would he refuse to stay? Leslie stared at him, bewildered. “Why?” she asked finally, her utter confusion evident in her voice.

“I already signed on to go to Marion, and I can’t just abandon Martin and the state government,” Ben replied quickly, staring back at her, his eyes radiating a desire for Leslie to understand him. 

But Leslie no longer believed he deserved her understanding.

She stepped toward him, her anger reignited as her fists clenched at her side. “So you can’t abandon your precious state government, but you can abandon us?” she shouted accusatorially.

Ben began to counter that he wasn’t abandoning them, but Leslie wouldn’t let him finish. “Of course you’re abandoning us!” she said dismissively. “You come back for three days and make us miss you all over again, and then, when you actually have a chance to stay, you say ‘Nah, who cares about Pawnee! Pawnee sucks!’” Leslie had only just avoided admitting her feelings for Ben, but frankly she didn’t care anymore. Ben had hurt her, and he needed to understand that.

“How can you even say that?” Ben fired back, taking Leslie by surprise. She hadn’t heard Ben raise his voice like this since their arguments back when he had first come to Pawnee. This, more than anything, made Ben’s betrayal more real for Leslie. 

But Ben wasn’t done. “You think this hasn’t been _killing_ me for the past two days? You think I’m not staying because I don’t care about _Pawnee_? Less than twenty minutes ago you told me that Pawnee was my home, and now you’re just taking that back?”

“I only said that to try to get you to stay!” Leslie fired back, standing her ground. “Because I _thought_ that you would actually want to. But apparently not. I can’t believe you, Ben. I was sitting there trying to convince you not to leave, and you actually _knew_ that there was a way you could stay.” The depth of what Ben had done to her sunk in. She had practically begged him to stay, but he hadn’t said anything. Not one word about a job offer or a way he could stay in Pawnee. Nothing.

When Ben didn’t reply, Leslie kept going. “After all we’ve been though, Ben. The Harvest Festival, five weeks of phone calls and emails and all those times you told me how much you missed Pawnee. These past three days… JJ’s, the snow globe museum, the zoo!” Ben, of all people, understood how much she loved the zoo. “Ben, we went to the _zoo_ together today, and you didn’t have the decency to say ‘oh Leslie, like that tropical bird that just pooped in its cage over there, I’m pooping on our entire friendship and leaving Pawnee when I could easily have taken a job here!” Maybe she was a little extreme, but Leslie didn’t care. “I was right about you all along, Ben. You _are_ a jerk.” That was the final blow. She turned away from him. 

“Leslie wait,” she heard Ben behind her. 

She turned around, her face set. “Wait for what? For you to stop in after Marion so I can get my hopes up about you maybe coming back to stay just so you can leave and crush them again? I’m done with this, Ben. I’m done.” She had to stop waiting for him. She had to get over him. 

Ben, it seemed, wasn’t done. “Leslie, I was going to tell you about the offer earlier, but then Ann called, and you blindfolded me and brought me here.”

Leslie vaguely did recall Ben about to tell her something when Ann had called, but that didn’t change anything. “And what about any other time in the past day and a half? I assume that this was the ‘incredibly important’ thing Chris had to tell you at lunch yesterday? It’s been over 24 hours since then. You can’t just say you were ‘going to tell me.’” 

As she said Chris’s name, she saw the other man tense up beside Ben. Leslie turned to him, not wanting to let him off the hook either. “And you!” she said to Chris, glaring. “You didn’t tell me about this either! We were at the Snakehole together for hours yesterday, and you didn’t even mention it.” 

Chris’s eyes stayed on the ground. “Ben asked me not too.”

Leslie laughed bitterly. “Of course Ben asked you not to!” she spat. “Because _Ben_ doesn’t care about his friends in Pawnee that get _dinner_ with him and throw him _parties_ and take him to the _zoo_. Ben doesn’t want to work with _those_ people; he likes his new stupid friends in stupid Richmond and stupid Marion!”

Ben looked like Leslie had punched him, and Leslie relished in that face. He deserved to be just as upset as she was.

“Leslie, you know that’s not true, so just stop!” he tried to explain, angrily. “I came back to Pawnee to spend my three days off with my closest friends, to spend them with _you_. I could have gone anywhere, but I came _here_!”

“Well I wish you had gone anywhere _but_ here!” Leslie shouted, resenting his guilt trip. She made a split second decision. “Get out. Get out right now.” Her tone was flat, and she didn’t move except to gesture toward the door. 

Ben looked helpless as he stood in front of her. “What?”

Leslie’s tone did not change. “You heard what I said, get out. This party isn’t for jerks and traitors who would rather go to stupid Marion than live in Pawnee.”

“Leslie-” Ben started, but Leslie wasn’t having it. She pushed him toward the door, ignoring his pleas that she had driven him to Ann’s and that his car was at JJ’s.

Chris quickly offered to drive Ben back, and the two men left, Chris with a false optimism and Ben with a look more akin to hopelessness than anything else.

Leslie slammed the door behind them and then turned around to see the rest of her friends staring at her with varying degrees of concern and shock on their faces.

Ann spoke first. “Maybe you guys should head home.” She glanced around at the group gathered by the table.

Ron nodded, grabbed several slices of pizza topped with some kind of meat, and stepped out through the front door in an instant.

Jerry started to say something, but a glare from Leslie silenced him, and Donna and Tom ushered him out of Ann’s house, neither one of them stopping to comment. 

Andy asked Ann for a couple pizzas in a loud whisper, and she handed them to him with an eyeroll as she waved him away from the table.

“You need someone to go beat him up for you?” Andy asked Leslie seriously as he passed her, pizza boxes clutched in his arms. “Agent Burt Macklin would be more than up for the job.” 

Leslie only shook her head, not trusting herself to speak without crying or screaming. 

April left last. “I never liked him,” she said quietly with the lightest of touches on Leslie’s arm to comfort her before disappearing into the night.

Ann shut the door behind April and turned to Leslie. “Sit.” She gestured to the sofa. “I’ll make hot chocolate, and we can talk about this.”

Leslie did as Ann had ordered and listened as her friend busied herself in the kitchen behind her.

Leslie was in shock. This was tantamount to betrayal from the man who had become her closest friend (next to Ann, obviously). Did he really think it was okay not to tell her that he had a chance to stay in Pawnee? And did he really think it was okay that he had turned it down to go back on the road? Couldn’t he see how much he meant to her? Didn’t she mean that much to him too?

Leslie jerked out of her thoughts as Ann handed her a mug that she instantly sensed was filled with a little bit of hot chocolate but a lot of whipped cream.

“Thanks,” Leslie said gratefully. “At least I know you’ll never betray me.”

Ann sat down next to her and took a deep breath as though preparing herself for the worst. “Leslie, this might be hard to hear, but I’m just gonna say it anyway. Yeah, Ben should have told you about the job; that was really stupid not to mention when you guys are so close. But this isn’t a betrayal. Put yourself in his shoes for a second. He made a commitment to go to Marion, and what would he be if he just went back on that? He’s not a jerk or a traitor, he just made a stupid decision.” 

Leslie almost gave an angry retort in response to Ann’s defense of Ben, but instead she swallowed it and sighed, throwing her head in her hands. “I just thought I could make him stay.” 

And with those words, Leslie’s anger dissolved into hot, bitter tears.

Ann pulled her into a tight embrace as sobs wracked Leslie’s body.

“I just miss him so much, Ann,” she cried into her best friend’s shoulder. 

“I know you do, Les,” Ann said soothingly, rubbing Leslie’s back comfortingly. “He misses you too, you know. He’s just an idiot.”

“I spent the past three days doing everything I could to make him stay,” Leslie broke out between sobs, “but he didn’t even think about it.” 

“Hey,” Ann said, pulling back and taking Leslie by the shoulders. “You have no idea how much thought he put into his decision. I’d bet anything it was really tough for him.” 

Leslie turned away from Ann and got a tissue. “Well it doesn’t matter because he’s leaving. He’s gone.” She blew her nose and wiped at the tears that were still sliding down her cheeks.

“Oh Leslie.” Ann moved to sit side by side with Leslie and put her arm around her.

Neither of them spoke for a moment.

Finally Leslie laughed. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here crying over Ben. If you’d told me that would happen back at the beginning of all this I would have thought you were crazy.”

Ann gave a half-smile, but didn’t reply.

They sat in silence again with only the sound of Leslie’s sniffles filling the air. 

Finally Ann sighed. “So what do you want to do, Les?” 

Leslie knew what Ann meant, but Leslie pretended she misunderstood. “Can I stay here, and can we watch chick flicks for the rest of the night?”

Ann rolled her eyes. “Well obviously, yes. But that’s not what I was talking about, Leslie.”

It was Leslie’s turn to sigh. “I…” She paused, not wanting to actually vocalize the conclusion she had come to. “I… I have to let him go.”

Ann raised her eyebrows, clearly expecting more of a fight from Leslie. “Really? Are you okay with that?”

Leslie shrugged, keeping her head down. “He’s gonna keep moving from town to town because that’s his job, and it’s just never gonna work out for us. I should just try to move on. He can just be that state auditor who came for six months and helped us with the Harvest Festival.” 

“Are you sure?” Ann was concerned. 

Leslie took a deep breath and lifted up her head. “Yeah. I need to move on.” 

Ann narrowed her eyes, unsure, but she let the matter drop as she stood up and walked to the cabinet where she kept her DVDs. “Go steal some sweats and a t-shirt from my room and then pick out whatever movie you want, Leslie. I’ll make some popcorn.” 

Leslie didn’t mention Ben again for the rest of the night, and Ann made sure not to bring him up either, though Leslie could see her best friend eyeing her with concern and skepticism. Leslie tried to focus on the movies, but her mind was worlds away reliving the past three days with Ben and searching frantically for a way to resolve things that didn’t involve her severing ties with a person who held such importance in her life. 

After three movies, Ann told Leslie she should try to get some sleep, but Leslie only shrugged, deep in though. Ann looked dead on her feet, so Leslie insisted that she go to bed, reassuring her friend that she would be okay. 

“Okay then, goodnight,” Ann said, stifling a yawn. “Remember, things always look better in the morning.” She gave Leslie a hug and left the room. 

So Leslie was left alone in Ann’s living room. She curled up in a blanket on the sofa as tears welled up in her eyes once again. She muffled her sobs in a sofa cushion so Ann wouldn’t hear. This was so much worse than having Ben leave the first time. That time there had been hope. But tonight, there was nothing. She had come to the conclusion that moving on was her only real option. It would hurt like crazy now, but, in the end, it would be better for her. Or that’s what she told herself.

Leslie stayed in the same position until her tears finally slowed and she grabbed the tissue box to blow her nose. She sat up and faced reality. No more crying. No more feeling sorry for herself. This was her life, and she had to deal with it. 

She looked around for something to eat, and her eyes landed on one remaining pizza box on Ann’s table. She got up and opened it, but stopped when she found that it wasn’t pizza but rather the one box of calzones that she had insisted they get for Ben.

Leslie took a deep breath and blinked back tears as she closed the box. But then she was struck with an idea. If this was the end of her and Ben’s friendship, then she should apologize. Of course she was still upset with him, and of course seeing him again would just make it worse, but he had to know that she didn’t think he was a jerk or a traitor. Just for old time’s sake. And she would bring the calzones with her as a peace offering. _It’s not like they’d get eaten by anyone else,_ Leslie told herself, trying to make her argument for waiting for Ben outside his hotel as convincing as possible.

She glanced at the clock and saw it was about 3AM. If she knew Ben Wyatt, and she did, he would try to leave Pawnee as early as possible after a night like last night, so Leslie figured she could get some sleep and get to the Super Suites in time to see him before he left, assuming he hadn’t driven back to Indianapolis immediately after their fight. If he was already gone, then there was nothing Leslie could do.

Leslie settled in on the sofa, but she was so worried that Ben had already left that she soon realized falling asleep was pretty much out of the question. She tossed and turned until 5AM when she finally got up, grabbed the box of calzones, and left Ann’s house as quietly as possible, not even bothering to get changed. The sun was just peaking up from the horizon, and Leslie could see puddles illuminated in the early morning light. It looked like it had rained a pretty decent amount the night before. Leslie was just glad it had stopped now.

She reached the Super Suites and was extremely relieved to see Ben’s car still in the parking lot. She realized that she had no idea what she was going to tell Ben, so she spent the next forty-five minutes rehearsing a small speech from her car. When her watch informed her that it was 6AM she got out and walked over to Ben’s Saturn, setting the box down on top of the trunk and leaning back against the side of the car to wait for Ben.

A half hour later, her waiting paid off. “Leslie?” a voice said, clearly confused. 

Leslie glanced up immediately and found herself face to face with Ben. Before she could help herself, she smiled. “I knew you’d try to get out this early.”

Ben looked completely exhausted, as though he hadn’t been able to sleep last night either. “How long have you been out here?” he asked, clearly not sure what Leslie was doing standing by his car in the parking lot of the Pawnee Super Suites.

She shrugged him off, not wanting to admit that she’d been up all night crying about him and that she had been sitting in the parking lot for almost an hour and a half. “A while. It doesn’t matter.” She launched into her speech. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what I said last night. I didn’t listen to you, and it wasn’t fair of me to demand that you tell me every little detail about your life. I’m sorry I called you a jerk and a traitor. You’re actually one of the un-jerk-iest people I know, so, I’m sorry.” She turned and grabbed the box of calzones. “I figured you’d want these.” 

Ben opened the box and a small smile appeared on his lips. “Thank you,” he said softly. “For the calzones, and for saying that. And I’m sorry for not telling you. I really was going to, I just didn’t want it to ruin the last two days we had together.” 

“I understand,” Leslie replied, nodding. She just needed to get this over with. “Well, good luck in Marion, and come back and visit again if you ever have any time. I promise I won’t order you out of any parties.” There was a tension in the air that Leslie wasn’t used to. Normally conversations with Ben flowed easily, but this was almost awkward.

And it got even worse as Ben pulled her in for a hug. Leslie felt like there was a barrier separating them as she wrapped her arms around the state auditor for the very last time. This was the end of their friendship. She wasn’t sure if Ben knew it, but she certainly did. It was for the best. For both of them. 

The separated, and Ben sighed. “Well, I’ll see you around.”

“See you,” Leslie replied.

Ben got in his car and, with a wave, he was gone.

Leslie was able to make it back to her car before she started crying again. She knew she was making the right decision, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.


	5. Moving On

Leslie decided to pretend nothing had happened the previous Saturday night as she walked into City Hall on Monday. Her first stop was Ron’s office. She could see that he was still concerned as he offered her a sympathetic nod as she stepped inside. Of course once she casually let slip that she knew his birthday was on Friday, his demeanor immediately changed from quiet support to frustrated annoyance. Leslie was pleased.

Moving through Ron’s office to the central department area, she found most of the members of her department keeping their heads low and only stealing glances up at her. Someone had gotten coffee and donuts so everyone was sitting around the center table. Leslie was usually the only one to do something like that, but a reassuring half smile from Donna told Leslie that this was to try to make her feel better after Saturday night.

Leslie sat down at the table, but everyone seemed reluctant to speak.

Before Leslie could try to figure out the best course of action, Tom burst into the office and threw down a picture onto the table.

“They put up a fence,” he said dramatically.

“Who?” Leslie asked, confused, but one look at the picture told her everything. “No!” It was Lafayette Park on the border of Pawnee and Eagleton. She, April, Tom, and Ben had just spent part of their Friday cleaning it up, but sometime between Friday afternoon and this morning, it seemed the Eagletonians had put up a fence on the dividing line.

As Tom gave everyone the full story, Leslie stared at the image. She knew instantly who was behind this: Lindsay Carlisle-Shay, her former best friend and current soulless Eagletonian monster.

Leslie assigned April to Operation Ron’s Birthday and then spent the rest of the morning phone calls from worried citizens, scheduling a public forum for that night, and calling stupid Eagleton to ask Lindsay to come by to talk, which was of course followed by a call to Ann to come for moral support. Leslie was too busy and too angry to even think about Ben.

Her conversation with Lindsay went badly, but that night’s public forum with Tom made her feel better, even though one man suggested arson multiple times as a legitimate response. She made a promise to the people to tear down the fence, and she intended to keep it.

When she returned home after the forum, she began to plan her attack, but after a while she had to stop. She acutely felt Ben’s lack of contact, even though it had barely been a day and a half since she had last talked to him. Normally when confronted with a problem like this, Leslie would have turned to Ben to complain to or to bounce ideas off of, but that wasn’t an option anymore. She knew he would have been outraged about this too, but when the day ended and she opened her inbox, there were no emails from Ben, and Leslie knew she couldn’t send one herself. 

Eagleton’s public forum the following day didn’t do much for her self-esteem as a Pawneean, and so her plan to get a bunch of garbage and throw it over the fence to the Eagleton side of Lafayette Park was born. 

Leslie could hear a voice in the back of her mind that sounded strangely like the man who had left her in the Pawnee Super Suites parking lot on Sunday morning telling her that this was just playing right into what Eagleton thought of Pawnee, but Leslie ignored it. Maybe if the real Ben were there she would listen, but Leslie could tell the one in her mind to just shut up. 

She and Andy were about to throw the first bags over the fence, with the rest of the department looking on skeptically, when Lindsay arrived pulling her dog on a leash and carrying a Styrofoam container of waffles from JJs. The former friends argued back and forth until Lindsay finally fed one of JJs waffles to her dog.

This was too much for Leslie. She felt Tom’s hand on her arm trying to hold her back, and she could hear Ben mentally yelling at her to calm down, but Leslie leapt away from Tom and from any rationality she had left. She pushed Lindsay down into the garbage pile and then threw herself on top of her. She could hear the voices of her friends telling her to stop (except for Andy who was egging her on and getting excited about a garbage fight), but Leslie wanted Lindsay to pay for her betrayal.

An hour later found her wrapped in a blanket and locked up in the cozy confines of the Eagleton holding cell. Leslie hated it. She spent most of the night getting angry at Lindsay and stupid Eagleton, but every so often she would think about the good old days when her and Lindsay were best friends, which brought to Leslie’s mind another friend who was no longer part of her life. Leslie wondered what Ben would think if he saw her now, not three days since he had left, sitting in jail in Eagleton. But she shook her head. She couldn’t think about Ben anymore. He was gone.

Ann came by to pick her up the next morning, since she was the most beautiful, wonderful best friend in the entire universe, and her threat to “beat Lindsay senseless with a baseball bat” gave Leslie an amazing idea: a Pawnee Whiffle Ball League on the Pawnee side of Lafayette Park! The fence that Eagleton had put up was already perfect.

By Friday night, the Whiffle Ball League was in full swing, Ron’s birthday celebration had gone off without a hitch, and Leslie and Lindsay had gone to Sullivan’s to talk about old times.

“It was great to do this, Lindsay,” Leslie said giving her friend a hug goodbye outside the bar.

Lindsay smiled genuinely. “Yeah it was. I’ll make sure to stay in touch.”

“Good,” Leslie grinned. 

Lindsay was one friend that Leslie had thought she had lost forever, but now they were going to give it another shot. Leslie couldn’t help but think, as she drifted off to sleep that night, that it would be really cool if things could work out that way with Ben.

No one had mentioned the state auditor at all that week as they had worried about Eagleton and then the Whiffle Ball League, but the following Monday, Leslie heard his name finally come up.

She had left the office to get Chris’s approval on the upcoming month’s parks events, but Chris had been less his enthusiastic self and instead more cautious as he looked over the list. After approving the calendar, he had offered her a small smile that Leslie took to represent an olive branch. Leslie smiled back. Sure, things would still be weird with Chris – he was closer to Ben than he was to her after all – but at least they would be able to work comfortably with each other.

She was about to walk back into the parks department when the voices of her friends from inside stopped her.

“It’s just kind of awkward guys,” she heard Tom almost whine. “I mean, yeah, he’s my friend, but I feel like I’m going behind Leslie’s back if I answer his email.”

Leslie furrowed her brow. _Is Tom talking about Ben?_ she asked herself, unsure.

“I think as long as we don’t mention her, it’s fine,” Donna offered her opinion. “I don’t know if he has a lot of close friends since he moves around so much. I think he needs us.” 

“Ew,” April interjected, her presence surprising Leslie, who knew that April never liked to look like she cared about anything. “I don’t want him to need us. I hate him.”

“You don’t hate Ben, babe,” Andy said in his usual upbeat manner, but the rest of his words were lost to Leslie, who leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily.

Andy’s words confirmed her suspicion. It seemed that Ben had reached out to the rest of the Parks Department to try to stay in touch. Leslie replayed Donna’s words about Ben not having a lot of close friends. Leslie put her head in her hands. She had completely forgotten the fact that Ben counted the members of Pawnee Parks Department as some of his closest friends, even without including Leslie. Ben leaving Pawnee and no longer being in contact with Leslie meant that he had lost contact with the rest of his friends too. Leslie felt sick to her stomach. She was so focused on herself and her relationship with Ben that she had completely forgotten about Ben’s other Pawnee friendships. Of course her department wouldn’t want to make her upset; they had seen the fight; they understood how angry Leslie had been at Ben. But Ben really liked everyone in Pawnee. He and Tom were almost inexplicably really close, and she knew that Andy thought of him almost as a brother. Leslie wasn’t sure what to do, if there was even anything she _could_ do. She focused back on the conversation.

“I think that’s what’s best,” Donna was saying. “Just send him a quick reply asking how he is and how everything’s going in Marion and then say whatever you’d normally say. Just let him know that we’re still cool with him, but don’t actually say it. Be casual. And _definitely_ don’t mention Leslie. Got it?” 

Tom sighed. “Still feels kinda weird, but I guess you’re right. Are you sure we shouldn’t tell Leslie?”

“No way,” Donna said with finality. “I’m sure she’d be fine with it, but I don’t want to bring up any of the bad blood that’s between them. That’s her and Ben’s business, not ours. If he wants to talk to her, he can email her himself, and if she wants to talk about anything, she can start the conversation. We stay out of it.” 

There was a murmur of assent and footsteps as everyone apparently moved back to their desks.

Leslie stayed frozen in the hallway trying to compose herself. She definitely didn’t have a problem with her friends staying in contact with Ben, and she was extremely grateful to Donna for not making her talk about their fight, but the fact that this was even an issue just made her sad. 

She took a deep breath and moved around the corner. “Chris approved all of next month’s events, so we’re good to go guys,” she said in as typical Leslie Knope a tone as she could muster. 

Andy seemed excited. Jerry started to congratulate her, but tripped over his computer cords instead. April merely looked bored, though Leslie could see the smallest hint of concern on her face. 

“Nice work, Knope,” Donna said, perhaps just a little too nicely.

“Really excited about that, Leslie,” Tom added, definitely too nicely. 

Leslie rolled her eyes and walked into her office as she heard Donna throw a quiet comment to Tom that Leslie knew had to be her telling him to be cool and stop acting weird.

Leslie sighed as she pulled up her email. Nothing from Ben. It seemed that he had reached out to everyone but her. Leslie told herself that someone who had moved on wouldn’t be upset about not getting an email, so she just closed her eyes and tried to keep it together. 

But the following day, Leslie’s façade fell apart. She opened up her inbox after everyone else in the department had already gone home, and there waiting for her was an email from Ben.

The subject line simply read “What’s Up Pawnee?”

She took a deep breath and clicked it open.

**Hey Leslie!**

**It’s been a while, so I was just wondering how everything’s going back in Pawnee. Marion’s been fine so far. The budget situation is similar to Richmond’s, but there’s at least one employee here who knows what she’s doing, so that’s been a huge help. And there’s no Bridgette Evans, so double the reason to celebrate. I’ve been around the town some, and I walked down to the park closest to my hotel this past weekend. It was okay, but Harvey James Park is definitely much prettier.**

**I’d love to hear how you and the rest of the Parks Department are doing. Miss you guys!**

**Ben**

Leslie sunk back in her chair. This was her way to let things go back to normal with Ben if that’s what she wanted. _Of course_ she wanted to know what he had been up to and what the people in the Marion government were like and if Pawnee was better (she knew it was, but Leslie had always appreciated extra pro-Pawnee sentiment). And she would _love_ to tell Ben all about Eagleton and the fence and Lindsay and her night in jail. But… she was supposed to be moving on. He was supposed to be just another government guy that came for a few months and left. This was supposed to get easier.

Leslie closed out of her email and gathered her things to go home. She would worry about this later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!


	6. Bad Decisions

The next day, Tom came sauntering into the office with a request for everyone to come to the Snakehole that night to help him promote his new drink, “Snakejuice.”

Leslie was still more concerned with Ben’s email than anything else, so she really didn’t want to go out that night, but she could tell how much it meant to Tom. She sighed and decided that she could at least stop by.

She met Ann for coffee briefly in the hallway of city hall, but she found herself unable to follow her best friend’s never ending trail of guys, and when Leslie had to leave after just a couple minutes for a meeting with Chris, she felt as though she hadn’t spoken with Ann at all.

After she took a seat in front of his desk, Chris began. “We need to find a new PR director for the Pawnee Health Department.” He then explained what had happened to the last director, Dennis Cooper, and why there were signs denouncing Jan Cooper all over city hall. “Leslie, I want you to help choose a replacement. Parks and Health work closely together on outdoor programs and exercise intiati–”

“Ann should do it!” Leslie said, the idea coming to her before Chris could even finish his sentence.

“Ann Perkins!” Chris supplied immediately, a grin spreading across his face instantly.

“She would be perfect,” Leslie emphasized, nodding to herself. Besides talking about guys, Ann had just complained to her about how much the hospital had been getting to her. Ann had the qualifications, and she knew the Pawnee government as well as most of the city’s actual employees, maybe even better than some of them. Plus, she and Leslie worked great together. It was a win-win! But then she remembered Ann’s history with Chris. “I mean, unless that would be weird for you,” she added quickly.

Chris shook his head, laughing. “Of course not! That is _literally_ the best suggestion I have ever heard!” He pulled out a piece of paper with a list of candidates and interview times. “If Ann wants to interview for the job, just pencil her in. She’d be such a great addition to City Hall!” 

Leslie smiled appreciatively and got Ann an interview at 9AM, the earliest possible time. She told Chris she’d meet him bright and early the next morning. 

After work, she stopped home to get changed and then met Ann at the hospital to tell her the news and give her a huge stack of materials to prepare for the next morning’s interview. Leslie was certain that Ann was super excited. She stopped by Paunch Burger to grab dinner and then headed over to the Snakehole with plans to stay for maybe a half hour. 

But Leslie’s arrival to the club was easily the best part of the night. She was soon confronted with an Ann who wasn’t taking the interview nearly as seriously as Leslie had expected and who was here with Pawnee radio personality The Douche, a man with whom Leslie had not had the best interaction with a few months before when she and Ben were out promoting the Harvest Festival. Ann and Leslie both awkwardly stepped around the issues in front of them – Leslie’s concern that Ann was going through guys too quickly and her annoyance at Ann for not staying home and preparing for the interview – and drank shots of Snakejuice instead.

As they kept drinking, things got fuzzier and fuzzier, and Leslie felt her mask slipping. “I just think you’re going waaay too fast with these guys, Ann,” she said as steadily as possible, which wasn’t very steady. Shot glasses littered the table in front of them.

“No offense, but maybe you think I’m going too fast because you went too slow with Ben, and you wouldn’t even try to fight for him when he left,” Ann replied, her voice getting angrier.

Leslie blinked at her friend, noticing even in her impaired state that Ann had broken the taboo on discussion of Ben. “No offense but I went slow because he was leaving, and I didn’t fight because I actually want to move on with my life!” Leslie fired back. 

“Yeah, well, no offense, but maybe that’s a little bit of an excuse for not acting on your feelings!” Ann responded immediately

“No offense, but I don’t remember you having a nursing degree in feelings!” 

Ann pointed her finger at Leslie, clearly mad at her friend. “Offense! That’s rude!” She stood up. “I’m gonna go dance.” She grabbed a shot that The Douche offered to her. “Douche, you’re up!”

Leslie stood up to follow her. She momentarily thought of Ben and wished he was here. Some small, still partly sober part of her brain, that little bit that sounded kind of like Ben, told her that maybe this was a bad idea, but Leslie had stopped caring. She called for Jean-Ralphio, took another shot, and headed for the dance floor.

And that was the last thing Leslie fully remembered.

She woke up the next morning at 6AM sprawled out on the sofa, fully clothed. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, only to be greeted by a splitting headache.

“Oh my God,” she said to the empty room as she slowly lifted herself off the sofa and headed up to take a shower, stopping by the toilet first to puke her guts out as she cursed Snakejuice under her breath. 

She got to work early, somehow, but she felt like she wasn’t even there. She kept getting flashes of the night before. Dance fighting with Ann, the Douche, and Jean-Ralphio. Yelling at Ann until she walked away saying that maybe they shouldn’t work together. Crying alone by their table. Getting stuffed into Donna’s Mercedes next to Jean-Ralphio. Collapsing on the sofa when she finally made it home.

Leslie lay her head down on the desk, groaning, partly because she felt so awful, but even more because she was so upset about all the stuff she had said to Ann the night before. She moved from her desk chair to the floor so she could lie down.

She didn’t quite remember falling asleep, but when a far-too-alert Chris Traeger called her name from the doorway, she shot up immediately. “I’m here! I’m here!” 

“We have to go hire a new PR director for the Health Department!” he said enthusiastically. He seemed like he was a couple seconds away from jumping up and down.

“Oh… yeah…” Leslie was not feeling up to this at all.

Chris shot her a grin and a knowing look. “You have a rough night, Leslie?” 

Leslie merely rubbed her eyes in response. She still wasn’t one hundred percent okay with Chris Traeger in general, and him being this excited at this hour wasn’t winning him any points. 

As Chris led Leslie out of the office to the conference room where they were going to be holding interviews, she saw Ron stroll in as though he hadn’t had a single drink the night before (which was definitely not true, since Leslie had a vague flash of Ron dancing with April’s Janet Snakehole hat on his head. She could also remember images of April as Janet Snakehole and Andy as Burt Maclin, FBI.) and then proceed to dump a bag of burgers and fries on the center table. Everyone else in the office, Ron and Donna excluded, seemed to be doing just as badly as Leslie was.

As she and Chris began interviewing candidates, Leslie tried as hard as possible to not let Chris or the candidates know that she was suffering from the worst hangover in her entire life. But even as she struggled, she couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t really a job for Chris. This was something he should have his assistant city manager do, but that position still hadn’t been filled. It was almost as if Chris didn’t want to hire anyone who wasn’t Ben. Leslie would have focused more on that thought, but thinking about a place for Ben in Pawnee just made her head hurt even more, so she let it go. 

Instead, her thoughts turned to her and Ann’s argument that involved the state auditor. Ann had accused her of not fighting for Ben, but Leslie still felt like she’d made the right call. And she knew that Ann had just said that to compete with Leslie’s accusations. Leslie was the one who had started the argument. It was her own fault. 

“Are you doing okay, Leslie?” Chris asked between candidates, genuine concern evident in his voice.

“Ann and I got into a fight last night,” she confessed, sighing, “and I said some stuff that I really wish I hadn’t. I owe her like a million apologies.”

Chris stared hard at her and then nodded as if deciding something with himself. “Let’s take a quick break before we go on to the next candidate.”

Leslie nodded and got up to go get some air.

She met Chris back in the conference room ten minutes later, not feeling any better than she had before. Chris, on the other hand, looked excited and had a secret smile on his face, different than his usual grin. Leslie didn’t have the energy to ask him what had happened. 

The next candidate, somehow, was Dennis Cooper, who sat in the conference room going on about how terrible Jan was even as Leslie and Chris informed him repeatedly that he could not have his old job back.

“You sound just like her!” the man glared at Leslie before finally exiting the room.

“That was unpleasant,” Chris commented, frowning for a moment.

Leslie nodded and sighed. “Alright, who’s next?” 

And Ann walked into the room with a folder in her arms.

“You came!” Leslie said breathlessly, feeling more relieved than anything.

“Yeah, I had some encouragement,” she shot a small smile to Chris. 

Leslie furrowed her brow in confusion, but then she realized that this must have been what Chris had been grinning about.

Leslie and Ann quickly exchanged apologies, and then they both excused themselves to go to the bathroom where they threw up in adjacent toilets.

As they cleaned themselves up, Leslie turned to Ann, still smiling. “So what made you come?”

Ann smiled back. “Chris called me,” she explained. “He said that you were really upset about everything last night and that you wanted to apologize, and I said that I had acted like a total jerk and you really shouldn’t feel back, so he suggested that I come down here for the interview so we could make amends.”

“That was really nice of him,” Leslie said, more to herself than to Ann. She immediately resolved to not be weird about Chris anymore. Everything with Ben was water under the bridge. Chris really was a good guy. 

Ann nodded her agreement, and the two left the restroom and headed back to the conference room.

 Chris stood up. “I think it might be better if I do your interview tomorrow, if that’s okay with you, Ann Perkins.” He pointed at her as he said her name.

Ann sighed, relieved. “That would be amazing. Thanks so much, Chris.”

“You’re welcome!” He beamed at them both and then left the room.

Ann gave Leslie a hug, another apology, and a promise to call her later, and then she left to go home and take a nap.

Leslie went back to her office, sat down in front of her desk, and opened her email. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a two-day-old message at the bottom of the screen. She resolved to reply to it before she left that night.

At five o’clock she pulled up Ben’s email and clicked reply. If she wanted to try the whole long-distance friendship thing again, here was her chance. She could tell Ben all about Eagleton and Lafayette Park and Snakejuice and her fight with Ann, and it would be just like their argument at Ann’s house had never happened. Leslie could go back to hoping that Ben would return to Pawnee someday and take the still-vacant Assistant City Manager position. 

Leslie sighed. No. She wasn’t going to do that. She had already made her decision, and she was going to stick with it. She began to formulate her e-mail, trying to keep it formal and not leave any space for a continued friendship, as much as it pained her to do so.

**Ben Wyatt,**

**I’m glad things are going well in Marion. It sounds like a nice place. Everything is running smoothly back here, just the usual odd Parks crisis here or there, nothing new. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Marion.**

**Regards,**

**Leslie Knope**

**Deputy Director, Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department**

Leslie felt bad as she read through the message. It sounded as though she was writing to someone she had never met before, as opposed to a guy who had been one of her best friends in the world up until a couple weeks ago. Leslie shook her head, hardened her resolve, and pressed send.

Ann formally got the Health PR Director job after a stellar interview with Chris the following day, news which absolutely thrilled Leslie. Ann was going to work part-time at city hall and part-time at the hospital so she could still be the greatest nurse in the world.

Leslie spent the weekend working, helping out at the rec center, and hanging out with Ann, though they decided against drinking anything, Snakejuice being too recent a memory. Ann apologized again for what she had said about Leslie’s handling of the Ben situation, but nothing more was said about the state auditor.

The return to normalcy continued as the week began, but Leslie found herself missing Ben more than ever. She thought of him every time she had to meet with Chris, every time she opened her inbox and found no emails from her old friend, every time she drove past the site of the Battle of Indian Hill or the zoo. She couldn’t pass the wildflower mural without recalling that she had been with Ben the last time she had sat on the bench in front of it, and even her Monday morning trip to JJs with Ron was punctuated by memories of Ben’s last three days in Pawnee.

She had hoped that as time went on it would get easier to not have him in her life anymore, but it seemed she had been wrong. If she didn’t have something to distract her, her thoughts would inevitably drift back to Ben. She felt miserable, and she could tell that Ann, Chris, and Ron all at least noticed. Ron, naturally, said nothing, Chris just told her to get more sleep and take the supplements he shoved into her hands after their meetings, and Ann gave her hugs and let her know that if she wanted to talk about anything, she was there. But Leslie really didn’t want to talk about it. She just wanted to stop missing him. 

On Wednesday, Chris called Leslie and Ron into his office.

“I’m sending you two on a trip!” Chris said excitedly.

Leslie narrowed her eyes, while Ron merely blinked. 

“The Indiana Little League Baseball Tournament is upon us,” Chris explained, “and Pawnee hasn’t hosted it in twenty years. So I would like you two to go to Indianapolis and state our case!”

Leslie glanced sideways at Ron. He looked as though he would rather get a root canal than go to Indianapolis with Leslie. 

“I do not believe I am the right person for this assignment,” Ron said stiffly. Leslie was inclined to agree with him.

Chris shrugged off Ron’s words. “Of course you are, Ron! You were part of the Parks Department during the last Little League Tournament that was held here, so it would be great to have your experience when you and Leslie try to win the bid!”

Leslie could see that Chris didn’t totally believe that Ron was the best person for the job, but it wasn’t like Chris had many real options. Leslie knew that the one person who would have been a perfect partner for her in this was Ben, but he wasn’t here anymore, so she would have to make this work. And besides, she had decided to try to be nice to Chris, so she owed him this one. 

“It’ll be fine, Ron,” Leslie said, turning to her director. “I know you don’t like going to Indianapolis since they closed down Mulligan’s, but I also know that there’s another steak place in Indianapolis that you really like, so I promise we can go there for dinner, regardless of whether we win the bid or not.”

Ron frowned slightly, clearly thinking hard. He took a deep breath. “Fine. But only because of the steak.”

Chris’s face broke into a huge grin. “Terrific!” he exclaimed holding out his hand for a high five. Leslie responded half-heartedly, while Ron ignored him.

Chris gave Leslie the details for the following day, and Leslie got to work printing up posters and checking the requirements and regulations for the tournament. Ron offered no help, but Leslie hadn’t expected him too.

The left the next morning around ten-thirty, Leslie extremely unsure of Pawnee’s chances for winning the bid. Normally she would have been very confident about something like this, but Leslie just wasn’t feeling like herself. She sighed as she pulled the car onto the highway, and Ron grunted his agreement. It was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the next chapter will be up within the next week. Thanks for reading!


	7. The Bid

They arrived early to the building where the presentations were going to be held after stopping for lunch at a diner near city hall. Leslie had been less than thrilled by the establishment’s pathetic excuse for waffles, and Ron hadn’t spoken as he ate his way through enough bacon and eggs to feed several grown men.

She and Ron were among the very first of the delegations to arrive, so the room was fairly quiet as they found themselves a nice space off to the side. Gradually the room filled up with other delegations, but no one came over to talk to them. Leslie knew that Ron generally gave off an aura of inapproachability, but it seemed that she was having the same problem today too. She glanced down at her watch every thirty seconds or so, just wanting to get this whole thing over with.

“Leslie,” a voice said from behind her, and Leslie turned.

The posters in her hands fell to the floor, and her eyes grew wide.

“Ben?”

It was indeed the state auditor, her former friend, who was standing in front of her with the smallest of smiles on his face. “Hey. Thought you could use some help.” 

Leslie couldn’t believe it. “What?” she asked, fairly certain she was dreaming.

“Chris called me yesterday and asked if I could come help with the Pawnee bid,” Ben said in a soft voice, as though he believed that anything louder would scare her away. “So, here I am.” He spread out his arms for emphasis.

It was too good to be true. “You came here just to help with this?” Leslie asked, a smile appearing on her lips just at the thought.

Ben shrugged with a sheepish grin. “Well, to help with the bid, and to see you.” 

Leslie knew she was blushing as Ben spoke, so she turned away and let her old friend greet Ron instead. Ben had come all the way from Marion to see her… She had cut him out of her life for three weeks, but he still wanted to be friends. He still cared about her. Leslie studied his face for a moment as he spoke to Ron. His eyes were bright and warm and inviting, and his hair was just as adorable as it always was. She had missed him so much. She had to apologize. She had to be friends with him again. She couldn’t do this anymore.

Ben offered to do the presentation in Ron’s place and then informed the other man that there was a buffet table laden with bacon wrapped shrimp behind the crowd of people. Ron was gone in an instant, leaving Leslie and Ben alone.

“Ben, we have to talk about something-”

“Leslie, there’s something I have to tell you-”

They laughed as they realized they were speaking over one another. 

Leslie nodded to Ben. “You go.”

He looked nervous but resolute. “I’m so sorry for everything back in Pawnee. Chris asked me about the job, and I wouldn’t even let myself think about it because I was supposed to go to Marion in 2 days, and then I didn’t want to have to explain it to you because I just wanted to stay in our happy little bubble where I didn’t have to leave and I could just help you with parks maintenance and we could go to the zoo and go bowling. But I should have told you everything. You’re such an important person to me, and I shouldn’t have tried to hide it from you. I’m just so sorry. And I can’t even tell you how much I’ve missed your emails and your phone calls while I’ve been in Marion. I’ve been throwing myself into budget problems for weeks now, and, as much fun as it is, I’d rather be back in Richmond in that god-awful parks department with emails from you waiting for me after work than in Marion with some sort-of friends but no contact with you.”

Ben paused, and Leslie let his words wash over her. She was certain that if someone asked her, at this moment, to explain how she felt about Ben Wyatt, all that person would get in response would be inhuman noises and nonsensical babbling. 

“If you don’t want to be friends anymore, I understand,” Ben continued, his eyes looking sad for a moment, “but, if you can forgive me, could we try to fix this? I hate it so much.” 

Leslie took a moment to throw out of her mind all of the concerns and plans to move on with her life that had been circling around her for the past few weeks, and then she let herself look into Ben’s eyes and smile. “We can definitely try to fix this because I hate it too.” 

“Really?” Ben looked genuinely surprised by her answer.

Leslie had to laugh at his excitement. “Of course! These past three weeks have totally sucked! Did Chris tell you about Lafayette Park?” she asked, wishing that she had been the one to tell him about the horrible things she’d gone through a few weeks before.

Anger entered Ben’s face as she spoke. “Yeah! How could Eagleton do something like that?”

Leslie wanted to kiss the state auditor right there in the middle of the crowded waiting area; he loved the town as much as any Pawneean, and he cared. _Actually_ cared. “Because Eagleton’s the land of rich snobby jerks, that’s why!” Leslie answered passionately. “They’re the worst!”

“That was a _really_ terrible thing to do,” Ben assessed. Leslie could tell that he didn’t want to stoop to name-calling, but he seemed to be well on his way to sharing her opinion. 

He quickly changed the subject. “But I heard you made the best of it with that Whiffle Ball League.”

Leslie smiled, proudly. That really had been a great idea.

“I also heard you went to jail?” Ben asked cautiously.

Leslie sighed and stared at her feet. “Like I said, it’s been a rough few weeks.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me about any of this stuff?” Ben was hesitant, clearly not wanting to upset her again.

Leslie turned her eyes up to meet his. “Because I thought it was best if I moved on, you know? Like I said your last night in Pawnee, I couldn’t just sit around getting my hopes up that you’d come back again and actually stay. I figured it would be better to let you just be that auditor guy who came for six months and then left, no big deal. But that was harder than I thought it would be. And that brings me to my apology.”

There was so much she had to say to him. She took a deep breath, arranging her thoughts, and then she began. “That night, it really wasn’t about you telling me or not telling me about the offer; it was about this idea I had that if I showed you all the best parts of Pawnee again that you’d remember how awesome a town it was and decide to stay, but then that whole thing completely ruined my plan, and I was just really upset, so I took it out on you. You made a commitment, and you had to stick with it; that’s the kind of person you are, and that’s why you’re such a great friend. And now I know you can’t come back to Pawnee, but I would love it if we could start talking again and you could come back to visit sometimes. I promise to not get too angry when my attempts to get you to stay fail.” She gave him a half-smile as a peace offering.

He returned it instantly. “I would love that.”

Without even thinking about it, Leslie stepped forward and threw her arms around him. As Ben pulled her close to him, Leslie let out a contented sigh. For the first time since their confrontation at Ann’s house, Leslie felt completely and utterly happy. How had she ever thought that removing this amazing man from her life was a good idea?

There was a sound of a throat clearing from behind her, and Leslie pulled away from Ben.

Ron was standing there, his face blank except for the smallest semblance of a smile that could just barely be seen underneath his mustache. Ron hadn’t actually talked to her about Ben during these past three weeks, but she knew that he had been concerned about her. Leslie had to smile at just the thought that he actually cared about her. 

“So, you two are friends again?” he asked, trying to appear as uninterested as possible.

Leslie glanced sideways at Ben, her smile growing wider. “Yeah. We talked about it, and-” 

“I don’t care,” Ron interrupted, though the slight increase in his smile betrayed his words. “I have also acquired a platter of bacon-wrapped shrimp.” He gestured with the hand that was holding the platter in a clear attempt to move the conversation away from feelings territory.

Before either Leslie or Ben could comment, they heard Ben’s name from behind them. 

“Good lord,” Ben said under his breath as he turned. Leslie followed his gaze and was met by the sight of an attractive dark-haired woman whose mouth was turned up in a very fake smile. Leslie narrowed her eyes. She knew that face, but she couldn’t remember why.

“I thought that was you, Ben!” the woman said in a tone that reminded Leslie of Lindsay Carlisle-Shay, pre-whiffle ball apology. “Long time, no see huh?” The woman laughed loudly as she stopped in front of them. “What are you doing here? I’d heard you were in Marion hacking up the budget. They’re not bidding to host the Little League Tournament, are they?”

“No they’re not,” Ben replied. His smile looked faker than the woman’s, and Leslie could tell that this was not a conversation he wanted to be having. “I’m technically in Marion, but I’m here today to help represent Pawnee.” He turned to Leslie and Ron beside him, giving Leslie a small smile as they locked eyes for a split second. “This is Leslie Knope, Pawnee Parks Deputy Director and Ron Swanson, Parks Director. Leslie and Ron, this is Bridgette Evans, Deputy Director of the Richmond Parks Department.”

 _That’s_ why she knew that woman! Leslie had looked up Ben’s Richmond co-worker to see what she looked like for reasons that might or might not have been related to her feelings for a certain state auditor. “Oh, wow. Bridgette Evans,” she said automatically, extending her hand. “Ben’s told me so much about you.” 

Leslie immediately realized the implications of that statement, since she knew the last time Ben had seen Bridgette Evans he had turned down her offer to go out with him, an encounter which Leslie was certain had embarrassed the other woman. “Well, by ‘so much,’” Leslie added, trying to salvage the situation, “I really just meant that he told me he was working with you when he was in Richmond and that you were the deputy director there.” Ben and Bridgette both looked relieved at Leslie’s words.

Bridgette asked Ben about his relationship with Pawnee, and he replied that he had tried not to talk bout Pawnee too much when he was in Richmond since he missed it so much and thought it was such a great city. 

Leslie couldn’t stop smiling.

A man with a mustache rivaling Ron Swanson’s came over and joined them, and Ben actually looked genuinely pleased to see him. He was quickly introduced as John Peterson, the Parks Director Ben had worked with in Richmond.

Within a few moments, John had gone to get himself a bacon-wrapped shrimp platter, and then he and Ron left to utilize the open bar. As the two men disappeared into the crowd, Leslie and Ben had to laugh. 

“Ron made a friend!” Leslie said excitedly, leaning on Ben as she laughed.

“I just hope Ron doesn’t find out about John’s management strategy, or the fact that he actually has a management strategy,” Ben replied, grinning widely.

Leslie was very conscious of the state auditor’s hand on her shoulder, and she realized that she really liked it there. 

When Bridgette asked why they were laughing, Ben quickly explained that Ron was a libertarian, but his words devolved into a statement about how great an employee Leslie was. 

Leslie tried not to blush too much at his words. 

Bridgette didn’t seem to really notice Leslie and Ben’s glances at each other, but Ben’s remarks had clearly intrigued her. “So _you_ do all the work, but you’re still just the deputy director?” she asked Leslie, clearly confused. “Ron doesn’t even _want_ to work for the government, but he’s technically in charge of the department?” 

Leslie nodded back. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“But why don’t you have his job then? Everyone must know that he doesn’t do anything. I’m sure you can complain to the city manager about it,” Bridgette said with the cadence of a superior giving advice to an inferior.

Leslie fought back an eyeroll and smiled slightly instead. “Ron’s one of my greatest friends, and it works well this way. I could never go over his head for anything. Ron’s a great director, even though he doesn’t do any work, and I’m his loyal colleague and his emotional protector. I would never do anything to go against Ron or anyone else in my department. We’ve got each other’s backs down in Pawnee; we help each other out. Don’t you do that over in Richmond?” She looked at the other woman pointedly, her eyebrows raised.

Bridgette stared at her, open-mouthed and offended.

Leslie glanced up at Ben, who looked just as shocked as Bridgette, and she winked at him. Ben immediately grinned. 

Leslie turned back to Bridgette and smiled at her with a fake sweetness.

Bridgette was spared from replying by a call for the delegation from Richmond.

Ben wished her luck as non-sarcastically as he could manage, and Leslie added her support with another smile.

John and Ron returned and shook hands before the two Richmond employees left them.

Once they were out of earshot, Ben turned to Leslie, grinning hugely. “Oh, that was mean.”

Leslie gave him her best look of innocence. “It was a legitimate question.” She smiled slightly. “That was payback for how much she annoyed you in Richmond.” She winked at him again.

Ben shook his head slightly. “You’re the best.” He seemed almost in awe of her. Leslie fought the impulse to duck her head, instead responding with their old finger guns handshake. Neither of them stopped smiling.

After Ron informed them that he had liked John, despite their philosophical differences, and then disappeared to find more food, Ben suggested they go sit down to talk. 

Ben told her all about Marion and how great things were going with the budget. Leslie could see an excitement in his eyes that almost made her sad. If Ben liked balancing budgets so much, would he ever come back to Pawnee? Leslie knew she didn’t have any right to think like that, but it still made her sad.

As Ben’s account turned to Lauren, the Marion Parks Director who he was working with primarily, Leslie sunk down in her chair. The smile on his face as he talked about Lauren looked very similar to the ones he had given to Leslie all afternoon. But a comment from Ben that Lauren had asked him to get lunch with her today, but he’d turned her down caught Leslie’s full attention. 

“Why?” she asked. If Lauren and balancing the budget in Marion were so great, then why wouldn’t he get lunch with her?

Ben looked at her as though she was crazy. “Well, I had to come see you and help Pawnee didn’t I?” He smiled at her. “Besides, I think it would feel weird to be hanging out with another Parks Department when I already have one, you know?” He nudged Leslie with his elbow.

“But it sounds like this _Lauren_ ’s your new best friend,” Leslie said immediately, her eyes locked on the floor. 

“Leslie Knope, are you _jealous_?” Ben asked, clearly entertained. 

“What? No! Shut up!” Leslie replied, knowing that her words were not the least bit convincing.

Ben laughed, shaking his head at her. “Leslie, you know Pawnee’s basically my hometown; three weeks in Marion, or anywhere else for that matter, can’t replace that. And no matter how much accounting experience someone else has or how much I like working with them, no one’s like you. Would Lauren Campbell plan a Marion Extravaganza if I came to visit for three days after being gone for over a month? I don’t think so.”

“Well, in her defense, I wouldn’t have done that for you when I had only known you three weeks,” Leslie argued.

Ben nodded, shrugging, “I guess that’s true, but I could have at least seen you doing something like that for someone, even when I’d only known you for a few weeks and I was still ‘Mean Ben’ sometimes.”

“You still _are_ Mean Ben sometimes.” Leslie’s full smile returned to her face.

“Hey!” Ben said in mock-offense. “Not true!” 

 Leslie shrugged, the smile still on her lips.

Ben punched her lightly in response but then continued. “But seriously, Lauren just agrees with me on everything, and while that’s really great and makes it so much easier to get stuff done, it takes all the fun out of it. As absolutely infuriating as you were at the beginning, I can’t say I didn’t at least kind of enjoy it.”

Leslie looked up at him. “Yeah, me too.”

Ben quickly turned the conversation back to Pawnee, and Leslie got to finally tell her friend everything that had happened in the three weeks since they had last spoken. She explained all the details in the Lafayette Park fence saga and why, exactly, she had gone to jail, and she told him about Snakejuice and her fight with Ann and how Ann was now working at city hall part-time.

“Has Chris hired a new Assistant City Manager yet?” Ben asked, not quite casually enough to avoid suspicion.

Leslie shook her head. “It’s like if you couldn’t take the job, no one could. 

“Well then maybe I will,” Ben replied. 

Leslie stared at him. He seemed serious, but Leslie was confused. “What?”

“Chris told you that he was going to ask me to take the job after I finish in Marion if he doesn’t find anyone else, right?” Ben asked, clearly assuming this was information Leslie already knew.

“Seriously?” Leslie almost jumped out of her seat in excitement. “That would be so great!”

“Yeah.” Ben smiled, confused, his eyes narrowing. “Why didn’t he tell you about that? I feel like that would have helped dig me out of that mess from three weeks ago.”

“Chris has been kind of avoiding the subject of you since you left,” Leslie replied truthfully. “I should probably apologize to him for that. I kind of yelled at him and slammed the door in his face that night.”

“I think Chris is okay about it, don’t worry.” Ben laughed. “But yeah, I don’t know if it could even happen, but it’s a possibility.” 

“I’d love that possibility.” Leslie kept her eyes on the ground. 

“Me too.”

Leslie quickly filled Ben in on the requirements and all the reasons that Pawnee would be the best place to hold the Little League tournament, and before long the Pawnee delegation was called.

“You ready?” Ben asked Leslie as they walked across the room and entered a different one following the woman who had called them. 

Leslie felt better than she had in weeks. All the doubts that had been in her mind as they left Pawnee that morning had faded. She was back, and they were going to win this. “Always.”

The presentation went very well, Leslie handling the general information and placating the committee’s raccoon concerns, while Ben added extra facts and comparisons of Pawnee to other cities, all of which put Pawnee on top.

“Muncie is larger. Bloomington is more central. What’s the advantage of doing it in Pawnee?” one of the committee members asked finally. Ben stepped forward slightly and began to speak. “The advantage is that it’s a wonderful city. I mean, look, I’ve been to 40-some odd towns in Indiana, and Pawnee is special. I’ve spent the past two months in Marion and Richmond, and they’re fine towns, but nowhere else in Indiana compares to Pawnee. It’s the only place where I’ve ever felt at home in all my years working for the state government, and there’s a reason for that. In Pawnee, the people are passionate and kind. They love their city. They take pride in their work. It’s a very, very special place.”

Leslie stared at him. While Leslie knew that Ben loved Pawnee and genuinely did consider it his adopted hometown, those last few lines didn’t describe everyone in Pawnee. They described her. 

At that moment, Leslie knew, without a doubt, that Ben was someone that she absolutely needed to have in her life. He was kind and smart and funny and had a cute face and nice hair and this was more than just a pretty big crush on a good friend; Leslie was in love with him. And he might be in love with her too. She needed him to come back to Pawnee with her, maybe not that day or the next week, but once he finished in Marion, she needed him to come back. It was going to take all her willpower not to make out with him for the rest of the night; she didn’t think she could wait longer than a few weeks to finally be with him.

A woman from the committee informed them that there was one more delegation they had to hear from, but she suggested, with a smile, that they should stick around.

“I think we might have just won,” Ben said quietly, making Leslie look up. She had been staring at the ground, lost in thought.

Leslie took a quick breath as she met Ben’s eyes. “Yeah, I think we might have.”

Ron rejoined them as they returned to the main area to wait. Leslie tried to stop herself from smiling too widely, but it was proving to be difficult. She was in love with Ben Wyatt, and she would bet anything that he really liked her too. Leslie felt like she could fly.

Half an hour later, it was announced that Pawnee had won the bid, and Ben hugged Leslie tightly. 

Ron, as per usual, was just glad that they could leave and get dinner at the steak house.

Leslie moved to shake hands with the committee members, while Ben called Chris.

Leslie received all the necessary information for making tournament arrangements, and then Ben joined them, informing her that Chris had been extremely pleased. A photographer quickly took their picture, Ron waiting impatiently beside the slightly scared looking man, and then the trio headed out to the parking lot.

Ron took Leslie’s car, while Leslie opted to ride shotgun with Ben.

After a few minutes, Leslie spoke. “You were really great in that presentation earlier. 

“Thanks,” Ben replied with a side-glance at her. 

“I liked the stuff you said about Pawnee,” she said slowly. “That was really nice to hear.”

“Well, Pawnee is a really special town. I loved living there, and I still miss it everyday.” Ben stopped, clearly debating about what to say. He took a deep breath. “And I would always look forward to the moments in my day where I’d get to hang out with the town, and talk to the town about stuff. I still do actually.” 

Leslie glanced over at him, a smile growing on her lips. She hadn’t been wrong.

“And the town has really nice blonde hair too and has read a shocking number of political biographies for a town, which I like.” Ben stopped and turned to her as much as possible while driving. 

Leslie suddenly realized just how much harder dealing with Ben in Marion was going to be after this. “Oh God,” she said, thinking. 

“I’m sorry,” Ben said immediately. “I know this is weird since I don’t even live in Pawnee anymore, and we hadn’t spoken in three weeks until today, but I can’t take this anymore, and I feel like we have to at least talk about it. I mean it’s not just me… right?”

Leslie had to smile at the nervous look on his adorable face. “No, it’s not just you.”

Dinner was difficult for Leslie, and she could tell that Ben felt the same way. She just wanted to make out with Ben, on his face, or at least call Ann and tell her that Ben had just said that he liked her, but Ron was there, not that he was paying attention to them. He would still have definitely noticed if Leslie threw herself on the adorable state auditor sitting beside her. So they had to stick to talking and smiling and Ben’s hand brushing against hers too often to be accidental.

Leslie hoped that she and Ben could sneak out and have a moment alone before they had to separate, but the arrival of Chris Traeger foiled that plan. He insisted that they spend the night at his condo, but Ben had to get back to work. Ron and Leslie, however, had no actual excuse, so they were to be trapped with Chris for the night, much to their displeasure. 

A few minutes later found them saying their goodbyes to Ben in the parking lot. 

Ron shook Ben’s hand with a look that was almost friendly, Chris gave him a huge hug, and then Ben and Leslie were left alone.

“So,” she said with a small smile.

Ben grinned back. “So.”

“I’ll email you tomorrow, let you know how much fun we had at Chris’s,” she added sarcastically. 

Ben laughed. “Please do. I’ll be waiting.”

She hugged him tightly, wishing he could come to Chris’s and suffer with her, but then she had to leave. As Leslie moved away from him, Ben grabbed her hand to stop her.

He pulled something out of his pocket and pressed it into her hand. “Have this.” 

Leslie opened her palm and saw the arrowhead she had gotten Ben at the gift shop for the Battle of Indian Hill three weeks before. Her eyes lit up. “You kept it?” 

“I’ve had it in my pocket ever since I left,” Ben replied, his eyes on the ground but a smile on his face.

Leslie hugged him again, trying to pour everything she felt into that one last embrace before she headed back to join Chris and Ron.

As she watched the car pull out of the parking lot and drive away, her hand closed tightly around the arrowhead. She smiled. This had been a great day after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	8. Back at the Condo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has taken an ungodly long time to write, and it isn't even long or anything, so I sincerely apologize for that. I had finals, family stuff, vacations, and a lot of me wanting to just sit around and do nothing at home after months of school crap. But there should only be one last chapter after this one, so I'll have it done soon.
> 
> But I hope you guys have enjoyed this fic so far, and thanks so much for reading and for leaving kudos! You guys are the best!

Twenty minutes later found Leslie and Ron sitting uncomfortably on Chris’s couch. They had both been to the condo before, and neither one of them had good memories of the previous occasion.

As Chris babbled something from the kitchen about how proud he was or how much he liked the new supplements he had purchased at the health food store in Snerling (she wasn’t really paying attention, but she assumed it was one of those things, if not both), Leslie pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Ben asking him to let her know that he’d gotten back safe. She was still playing the day over in her head and she couldn’t hide the smile on her face at the thought of her favorite state auditor.

She knew Ben wouldn’t be back in Marion for at least forty-five minutes, so she didn’t expect him to text back quickly, but she felt like she was going to explode soon if she didn’t talk to someone about what had happened. Ron was obviously not an option; he looked like he would murder the next person who spoke a word to him. As for Chris, Leslie had forgiven him, and she still wanted to apologize, but they definitely weren’t to the point where they could talk about something like this. Leslie really just wanted to call Ann, but she knew that her presence was the only thing keeping Ron from snapping, so she opted for a text instead. 

“ANN!! Ben came to see me in Indy!!!!!!!!” she typed quickly. 

Before Ann could reply, she sent a follow up message. “And we won the bid because of him and HE TOLD ME THAT HE LIKED ME and I just want to make out with him but he had to go back to Marion and Ron and I are stuck at Chris’s condo for the night. AHHHHH!!!!!!”

Less than fifteen seconds passed before her phone vibrated in her hand.

“WHAT!?! Call me!!!!!” Ann’s exclamation point usage rivaled Leslie’s, a true mark of her best friend’s excitement. 

“Can’t abandon Ron. I’ll call you later??”

Leslie could almost hear the sigh of exasperation that came with Ann’s response. “Fine. But you better!”

“I will. Promise :)”

Leslie set her phone back in her pocket as Chris reentered the room with a bowl of some sort of unfamiliar nut.

“You have to try one of these, Leslie!” Chris exclaimed, setting the bowl down on the coffee table and taking a handful for himself. “They’re delicious, and they’re _extremely_ good for you. A handful gives you three times the protein you get from regular peanuts with less than a quarter of the fat!”

Leslie fought the urge to tell Chris to shut up and instead declined his offer under the excuse of still being full from dinner.

Chris turned to make the same offer to Ron, but the glare Ron gave him was enough to make Chris keep his mouth shut about the nuts. Instead he offered Ron a change of clothes, to which Ron merely laughed.

“I guarantee that nothing you own will fit me,” Ron said, still chuckling. “I’m a Swanson.”

Chris shrugged as though to say it was worth a shot and then got up and left, reappearing a moment later with a toothbrush, towels, and other small toiletries. “I can at least make sure you’re comfortable, even if I can’t give you extra clothes.”

Leslie had to smile genuinely at Chris’s hospitality as he handed her a towel and a washcloth directing her to the bathroom down the hall. She, naturally, had an extra t-shirt and sweats in the car at all times, plus a toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, and soap, for just such an occasion, but it really was nice of Chris to offer everything else.

Leslie gave Ron a look over her shoulder as she made her way to the bathroom. His jaw was set like a soldier going into battle, looking on straight ahead, bracing himself for the torture that was spending an evening with Chris Traeger in his condo in Indianapolis. She offered him a sympathetic smile, which he did not return, but he still nodded his head almost imperceptibly as if to tell Leslie that he could handle Chris for the few minutes Leslie would be gone.

Leslie nodded back and then moved into the bathroom, intending to shower as quickly as possible, so as not to leave Ron alone for too long.

She was out of the bathroom in under fifteen minutes and found the scene in the living room almost exactly as she had left it: Ron staring straight ahead as Chris ate his super healthy nuts and carried on an extremely one-sided conversation about the Parks Department and Ron in general. Leslie could have sworn she saw Ron smile when she reappeared, but the flicker was gone before she could fully register it. 

Chris, for his part, positively beamed at her. “How was your shower, Leslie?” he asked with what Leslie felt to be an unnecessary level of enthusiasm. 

“Um, good,” Leslie replied uncomfortably, as she returned to her spot on the couch beside Ron. “Thanks, Chris.” 

Chris waved his hand as though to say that it was nothing and then he gestured toward Ron. “We were just discussing some of the upcoming Parks events. I would love to have you two collaborate on some more projects, after how successful your bid was today. My dynamic duo!”

Leslie could tell that Chris wasn’t completely genuine in his statement about the success of the bid. He was clearly fishing for some comment on Ben, but Leslie didn’t take the bait, not trusting herself to talk about Ben calmly after today’s events.

Ron, however, took it upon himself to offer an opinion. “I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I do not deserve any of the credit for the bid. That goes to Leslie and Ben. They’re your dynamic duo, or whatever it is. Please do not put me in charge of anything like this with Leslie again. She can do anything just fine herself.” He paused for a second and glanced at Leslie before adding a short addendum. “Or with Ben.”

Leslie stared at Ron, a small smile appearing on her face at his words. Ron clearly knew there was something going on with her and Ben, and this was his way of saying that he thought they were good together. Ron would never come right out and say anything like that, but this was close enough. Leslie was touched.

Chris, it seemed, did not catch the underlying message, instead focusing on Ben himself. “It would be really great to have Ben back, wouldn’t it?” He looked up at Leslie almost asking for forgiveness. “Today was just like old times.”

“He could still come back, right?” Leslie said, trying and failing to keep her eagerness out of her voice. “You haven’t hired a new assistant city manager yet, right?” 

Chris grinned almost conspiratorially. “No. I haven’t found the right guy yet.”

Now that Leslie thought about it, she didn’t think she could recall Chris having interviewed a single candidate for the job. Instantly, she even further regretted how she had treated Chris that night at Ann’s house three weeks before.

She didn’t want to actually apologize while Ron was still in the room, so she settled for a smile to let Chris know that she understood what he was doing and that everything was completely, 100%, okay between them.

Chris’s grin grew wider in response, and then he stood “Well, I think it’s time for me to head off to bed. If either of you need absolutely _anything,_ just let me know!” He practically skipped away. 

Next to her, Ron visibly relaxed, though he still seemed extremely uncomfortable.

“You okay, Ron?” Leslie asked.

Ron gave her a look more akin to a glare than anything else.

Leslie stood up, deciding that it would be best for both of them if she just went to bed. “Well, goodnight, Ron. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Her friend responded with a non-committal grunt.

Chris’s guestroom was furnished modernly like the rest of the condo, but Leslie was just grateful that it was on the opposite side of the apartment from Chris so she wouldn’t have to worry about him hearing her talk to Ann.

Leslie had barely even pressed call before Ann answered.

“Leslie! How could you keep me waiting like this?” her best friend yelled without even a greeting. “Tell me everything!” 

And so Leslie did. 

“And then he gave me back this arrowhead that I gave him when we went to the site of the Battle of Indian Hill that last day we were together in Pawnee.” Leslie had already been talking for ten minutes, with very minimal interjections from Ann, who seemed to know it was best to just Leslie get everything out. “And he said that he’d kept it in his pocket ever since he left, and it was like a promise that things aren’t done between us, and I’m so happy Ann,” Leslie finished her lengthy story as she flopped back onto Chris’s guest bed, pulling the aforementioned arrowhead out of her pocket and running her fingers over the smooth rock.

“Leslie, that’s so great,” Ann said, her wide smile obvious even over the phone. “I’ve been so worried about you, but it’s just amazing to hear you so happy. Ben better treat you well.”

Leslie laughed at Ann’s attempt at a serious threat. “We’re not even together or anything yet, Ann.” For the first time that evening, her face fell slightly. “Actually I’m not really sure how it’s gonna work out. I think he’ll come back to Pawnee after Marion, but that’s not even a sure thing, and, even if it was, that’s three weeks from now.” Leslie’s mind suddenly jumped into overdrive. “But wait, if he’s coming back to accept Chris’s assistant city manager job, that’s gonna make him my boss, technically, and remember back when Tom and I got matched up on hoosiermate.com, and then I had to kiss him to get him to shut up, and Chris said he has a rule against superiors dating inferiors, and that would apply to us, right, Ann?” 

“Lesl-” Ann tried to reply, but Leslie was already talking again.

“Of course it would apply!” Leslie’s words were getting more and more frantic. “So this doesn’t even matter! He’ll come back and work with us but we won’t be able to be together, and what’s the point? Well, the point is that Ben loves Pawnee and at least I’ll get to see him,” Leslie answered her own question. “But it sucks Ann! What if he finds out about this and decides it’s not even worth it? What if he leaves again Ann? What if -”

Leslie’s last what if was drowned out by Ann’s voice on the other end of the line. “LESLIE! LESLIE CALM DOWN!”

Leslie stopped talking.

“Just take a deep breath,” Ann said evenly.

Leslie inhaled and exhaled quickly.

“And again,” Ann commanded.

Leslie followed orders.

“Okay,” Ann’s voice was calm,” Leslie, there’s nothing you can do about this whole thing with Chris right now. You can talk to Ben about it when he has to make his decision, but there’s all sorts of things that you don’t know about. You have no idea how Ben’s going to react. You don’t even know what Chris is going to do with this particular situation. Worrying about it isn’t gonna help. Just focus on what happened today and how much Ben obviously cares about you. This is gonna work out, Les. You both deserve that after everything you’ve been through.”

Leslie sighed, trying to push the concern out of her mind. “Oh Ann, you’re beautiful and smart and you always know the right thing to say. Thank you.”

“Of course, Leslie,” Ann replied, relief evident in her voice. “Be happy about this,” she said genuinely. “It’s the first time I’ve heard you sound like yourself in three weeks.”

Leslie had to smile. “I really did miss him.”

“Yeah, you did.” She could hear Ann’s smirk in his voice.

Leslie then turned the conversation to her best friend’s life, since the pair had decided they needed to communicate better after that disaster of an evening at the Snakehole.

Ann had started to tell her about her shift at the hospital when Leslie’s phone vibrated telling her she had a text.

“Hold on one second, Ann.” Leslie checked her phone and a smile immediately appeared on her face.

“Ben texted me!” she said excitedly into the phone, feeling a little bit like a middle school girl with a crush, though she knew that her feelings ran far deeper than that. Her personal revelation that she was in love with Ben was the one thing she hadn’t told Ann, but she was pretty sure that Ann had already figured that out.

“What’d he say?” Ann asked with the appropriate level of enthusiasm. 

“That he made it back to Marion safely and that I should have fun with Chris and Ron.” Leslie smiled softly at the screen and then quickly texted him back. “I wish he was here,” Leslie added with a sigh. 

“I think making out with Ben within earshot of Chris and Ron would probably not be your best course of action at the present moment,” Ann replied, laughter in her voice.

“Yeah, you’re probably right, but still.” 

Her phone vibrated again. 

“Night Leslie. Talk to you tomorrow :)” read the message, and Leslie replied immediately with a goodnight of her own.

“Okay, sorry Ann,” Leslie retuned to their previous conversation, “back to your shift at the hospital.”

Even as Ann complained about the angry doctors and disgruntled patients she had had to deal with at St. Joe’s that day, Leslie couldn’t keep the smile off her face.


End file.
